It is possible that families who have been forced to pay huge bills run up by their children on Apple devices could be in line for compensation if a court case in the US finds in favour of parents there. A group of parents in the US have taken Apple to court and accuse the company of enticing children to spend money on iTunes using their parent's devices and without the knowledge of their parents. The problem was highlighted this week by the case of Will Smith, a six year old who ran up a bill of £2,000 on his grandfather's iPad when playing an online game which required credits to advance to new levels. It wasn't until the grandfather was contacted by the fraud squad that anyone realised the bill existed. Will's grandfather did not realise his card was connected to the game via the iTunes store. All it took was for Will to press a button to buy more credits.

Compensation could be paid to thousands of criminals because they have been denied access to rehabilitation during indeterminate sentences. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that three inmates who were given indeterminate sentences should receive compensation totalling nearly £14,000 because they were not given access to rehabilitation during their incarceration. This ruling could lead to similar cases coming before the courts and possibly millions in taxpayer money being used for compensation. Those prisoners who are given indeterminate sentences are told what the minimum term of their sentence will be but they must convince the parole board that they are able to be released by attending rehabilitation courses. It seems that the three men who received compensation this week were in jails where they could not access these courses and therefore failed to meet the qualifications required to get parole. It was ruled that they had been unlawfully detained because of a lack of access to courses.

A woman who was fired because she became pregnant has won a compensation payment of £34,000. Rebecca Raven worked as an art teacher at a private girls boarding school in North Wales. She asked for maternity leave after becoming pregnant and was made to feel irresponsible by the headmistress who pointed out that maternity leave was bad for business and disruptive. She was told that another staff member was being paid while on maternity leave and it couldn't happen again. It was pointed out to her that the money would have to be taken from other parts of the school's budget and that maternity pay was a waste. She was later dismissed. Raven said that she was left with a reduced self image and her lawyer pointed out that she was dismissed in the middle of a meeting with no representation or right of appeal. Raven says that her pregnancy suffered because of what happened. It was revealed in the hearing that the financial standing of the school was precarious at the time with pupils numbers dropping.

A court case has begun this week in Luxembourg to decide the outcome of the UK's fight with Iceland to secure compensation for savers who lost out when the Landsbanki bank collapsed in 2008. The UK treasury, the Netherlands and the European Commission are meeting with Iceland representatives at the European Free Trade Association court to ensure that Iceland meets its commitments. Iceland taxpayers have already twice voted against offering a settlement to those countries which lost out due to the collapse. The UK is seeking £2.35 billion to meet the guarantees which Iceland has failed to honour. UK savers have had their savings replaced by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which now expects to be reimbursed.